Edith Strötzel
Edith Strötzel (born February 3, 3585) is a former Hulstrian and Gao-Soton politician who was the Vice Staatsminister between 3634 and 3640. She served as Interior MInister from 3634 to 3644, and was the Chairwoman of the Nationales Bürgerforum (NBF) between 3626 and 3640. Early life Strötzel was born in 3585 in Labsburg, Budenlar to a middle-class family which supported the Hosianisch-Demokratisches Verbund (HDV). However, in high school, where she excelled academically, she began to develop an interest in politics and decided to break with family tradition and support the Liberale Volkspartei (LVP) instead. She officially joined and campaigned for the party in 3601 and, as an economics student at the University of Kien, was active in the September Bewegung. During the Bewegung and the election of 3606, Strötzel's campaigning skills were noticed by the LVP headquarters and she was offered a job as an aide to then-Staatsminister Emilia Lahnsteiger after her graudation in 3607. Shortly after her appointment, she was moved from Lahnsteiger's media relations department to her policy department. In 3609, she was elected to chair the LVP's youth organisation. MdR and junior minister In 3611, Strötzel stood for election to the Reichstag. Although her party lost votes, she was elected as she was placed relatively (for a first-time candidate) near the top of the party list in Budenlar as a result of Lahnsteiger's patronage. As a backbencher, she was initially seen as an effective but unspectacular parliamentarian, but her ability and public profile grew. She remained on the backbench until 3616, when she was appointed a party whip. A year later, she was promoted to the post of Consumer Affairs Minister, making her subordinate to the Economics Minister, Sepp Holzinger, before being moved in 3619 to the post of Employment Minister, which was in the same Department. Despite her disagreements with Holzinger on workplace relations policy in particular, Strötzel quickly developed a strong professional relationship with him. In 3621, she was offered a junior ministerial post in the Department of Agriculture, but refused after finding out that she would have to serve under former lobbyist Ottfried Stierschneider. Founding the Nationales Bürgerforum Strötzel led three other MdRs in defecting from the LVP in March 3622; they were joined shortly thereafter by Kuniko Fujita from the HDV, and Karl and Martha Hellwegge from Solidarität. Shortly thereafter, they founded the Nationales Bürgerforum (NBF), a right-wing populist party, of which Strötzel was elected Parliamentary Leader. In this capacity, she became one of the new party's leading figures, and its top public spokesperson apart from its inaugural Chairman, Wilhelm "Willi" Schauer. Leading the NBF in opposition After going through two leaders, Schauer and Klaus Zinnberger (who lasted for only several months), the NBF held a leadership election in 3626. Strötzel was the frontrunner a field of four candidates and, after securing a strong lead in the early rounds of voting, won a decisive victory in the third round. As Chairwoman, she was vocal in opposing the HDV's proposed alliance with Solidarität, which would allow them to form government. Her strong opposition whipped up public pressure which, combined with policy and ideological differences, caused the coalition talks to falter. As a result of the collapse of negotiations, new elections were held. In the election of 3628, the NBF made major gains, increasing its seat share from sixty-seven to ninety-nine. In coalition talks after the election, Strötzel effectively forced her LVP counterpart Ariane von Gehrfeld's withdrawal from the negotiations and her replacement with Holzinger, with whom she had worked as a junior minister. However, coalition talks between the NBF and the other parties failed, and the NBF was once again relegated to opposition. Strötzel angrily accused the other parties of "sabotaging" negotiations. Return to government Although the party lost seats in 3633, it became an increasingly integral part of a potential governing coalition. Despite LVP leader Ludwig Kirchgasser's insistence at the inclusion of Solidarität from Cabinet and the strong animosity between Solidarität and the NBF, Strötzel eventually agreed to enter into a coalition including Solidarität despite her reservations, and became Vice Staatsminister and Interior Minister. Three other NBF members were also appointed Cabinet Ministers. As part of the government, Strötzel and Fujita, the new Justice Minister, introduced national sentencing guidelines, and promised to toughen sentencing for criminals. Although sentencing matters were (and still are, although to a somewhat lesser degree) the responsibility of Crownland governments, Strötzel and Fujita claimed that due to the success of national guidelines in other fields under Crownland-level supervision, sentencing guidelines would also be effective in bringing criminal sentencing "in line with social expectations about crime and justice". In 3636 and 3637, Strötzel had to contend with a major rift within the coalition which took months to heal. Zinnberger, the Education MInister, announced his support for increased subsidies to farmers in Mitrania, a policy which was highly contentious in the NBF's senior coalition partner, the LVP. He furthermore endorsed radical education reforms taking place in Budenlar and expressed his desire to accomplish similar reforms nation-wide, and used Parliamentary Leader Anton Mutschler as a proxy through which he could aggressively criticise the education policies of his other coalition partner, the HDV. Strötzel decided to force Zinnberger out of Cabinet, which caused recriminations within the NBF while partially solving the divide in the coalition government. Strötzel campaigned for the continued involvement of the NBF in government during the 3638 election campaign. She had to carefully avoid too strongly criticising her coalition partners, while establishing a degree of difference betwen them and her party. Additionally, she attempted to win over voters who had previously supported far-right parties and also left-wingers who might be attracted to the NBF's message. However, the NBF was able to make only small gains of four seats in the Reichstag. Nevertheless, the party was able to remain in government. After the election, Werner Luscher, the party's young leader in Kuratha, called for "generational change" in the party, which was interpreted as a call for Strötzel to stand aside. Although she initially refused, she decided in early 3640 to announce that she would stand down within a year. In October 3640, she resigned as was replaced by her long-serving deputy, Fujita. She then resigned as Vice Staatsminister, although she retained the office of Interior Minister until 3644, when she left politics, although she undertook little policy work in the last four years of her tenure. Post-politics After leaving the Department of Internal Affairs and the Reichstag, Strötzel still remained intermittently active in politics and was frequently consulted by the NBF leadership on major internal issues as a mark of respect, although she spent most of her time making speeches and writing books and opinion pieces in various publications. She donated most of the proceeds to the NBF's campaign fund and to a number of favoured charities. In 3651, she made a final major intervention in politics when she campaigned for the merger of the NBF and LVP, saying that substantive differences between the two parties which had led to the split in 3622 no longer existed. Category:Politics of Hulstria & Gao-Soto Category:Hulstrian and Gao-Soton people